BEIJING (Reuters) - China's defense ministry made a thinly veiled attack on the United States on Tuesday for increasing tensions in the Asia-Pacific by ramping up its military presence and alliances in the region, days after the top U.S. diplomat visited Beijing.

China is uneasy with what the United States has called the "rebalancing" of forces as Washington winds down the war in Afghanistan and renews its attention further east.

China says the policy has emboldened Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam in longstanding territorial disputes with Beijing.

China faces "multiple and complicated security threats" despite its growing influence, the Ministry of Defense said in its annual white paper, adding that the U.S. strategy meant "profound changes" for Asia.

"There are some countries which are strengthening their Asia Pacific military alliances, expanding their military presence in the region and frequently make the situation there tenser," the ministry said in the 40-page document, in a clear reference to the United States.

Such moves "do not accord with the developments of the times and are not conducive towards maintaining regional peace and stability", ministry spokesman Yang Yujun told reporters.

The official People's Liberation Army Daily went further, saying in a commentary on Monday that China needed to beef up its defenses to deal with a hostile West bent on undermining it.

"Hostile Western forces have intensified their strategy to westernize and split China, and employed every possible means to contain and control our country's development," it said.

On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry defended the re-orientation of U.S. foreign policy towards Asia as he ended a trip to the region dominated by concerns about North Korea's nuclear program.

While China has been angered by North Korea's behavior, including its third nuclear test in February, it has also made clear it considers U.S. displays of force in response to Pyongyang's behavior to be a worrisome development.

China is North Korea's most important diplomatic and financial backer -- the two fought together in the 1950-53 Korean war -- although the ministry's Yang would not be drawn on the subject aside from repeating a call for peace and dialogue.

JAPAN "MAKING TROUBLE"

China's own military moves have worried others in the region, too.

China unveiled another double-digit rise in military expenditure last month, to 740.6 billion yuan ($119 billion) for 2013, and is involved in protracted and often ugly disputes over a series of islands in the East and South China Seas.

"On the issues concerning China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, some neighboring countries are taking actions that complicate or exacerbate the situation, and Japan is making trouble over the Diaoyu Islands issue," the white paper said.

Japan's government said it had lodged a protest with Beijing about that comment. "There exists no territorial issue to be solved over the Senkaku", Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroshige Seko said in Tokyo.

The dispute with Japan over the uninhabited islands, which China calls the Diaoyu and Japan calls the Senkaku, has escalated in recent months to the point where China and Japan have scrambled fighter jets and patrol ships shadow each other.

The waters around the islands in the East China Sea are rich fishing grounds and have potentially huge oil and gas reserves.

Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines also have conflicting claims with China in parts of the South China Sea. China lays claim to almost the whole of the sea, which is criss-crossed by crucial shipping lanes.

The U.S. shift comes as China boosts military spending and builds submarines, surface ships and anti-ship ballistic missiles as part of its naval modernization, and has tested emerging technology aimed at destroying missiles in mid-air.

China has repeatedly said the world has nothing to fear from its military spending, which it says is needed for legitimate defensive purposes in a complex and changing world, and that the sums spent pale in comparison with U.S. defense expenditure.

Because China would quickly take over the smaller nations Lol and allow South Korea to be taken over completely. So we would lose a lot of resources there and I will not get my CC Lemon soda from Japan.

On March 22nd, shortly after assuming the post of President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping headed off to Moscow
to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Observers were watching
the two leaders closely, looking to divine whether or not they could
overcome past divisions to achieve a new level of cooperation in
bilateral ties. What came out of the two leaders’ meeting and what does
it augur for the future of Sino-Russian relations?

Three major areas appear to have been the focus: managing
expectations about the relationship; expanding bilateral trade in energy
and arms; and cooperation on international security affairs. Drawing
on press reports from China and Russia we have attempted to determine
how much progress was actually made on these issues at the summit.

Framing the relationship between Beijing and Moscow is an issue with
both domestic and international implications for both countries.
Domestically, Beijing’s leaders want to convey to their people that China’s rise is accepted and respected by major world powers.
Similarly Russia, whose relations with major Western powers has
deteriorated since the re-election of President Putin, appreciates the
respect that comes from Xi Jinping’s selection of Moscow for his first
visit abroad as China’s new leader.

Bilaterally, both Beijing and Moscow are looking to leverage their
relationship to enhance their leaders’ standing domestically and
maximize their influence among world powers. At the same time, they hope
to avoid the costs they would incur if other states felt the need to
counter-balance a renewed bond between Russia and China. Neither party
seeks a world where their relationship is viewed as the second coming of
the Sino-Soviet axis of the Cold War.

In the realm of bilateral energy trade,
China’s goal is to acquire as much cheap and reliable energy as
possible without relying too heavily on any single-nation source, which
could be disrupted by an unexpected bilateral crisis. For its part,
Moscow wants to retain as much leverage as possible over the price of
the natural resources it sells and to avoid becoming dependent upon
China as a destination for its energy exports.

Even in light of these differences, it is sometimes still surprising
how limited energy sector cooperation is between China and Russia,
despite Russia’s vast energy resources and China’s rapidly growing
needs, the geographic proximity of the two states, and the strategic
advantage of having an overland supply route invulnerable to U.S. Navy
at-sea interdiction. Russia is just the fourth largest supplier of oil
to China, supplying it with only 8% of its total oil imports. There is
even less cooperation in the area of natural gas.

That may be changing. During the summit a great deal of fanfare was
made over the conclusion of a deal to construct a pipeline to ship
natural gas between the two countries. This was followed by an
announcement that Beijing will extend a $2 billion line of credit to
Russia’s politically well-connected natural gas giant, Gazprom, which
could expedite a long-term supply contract.

Despite the progress, Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin said Russia and China
still have not signed a final binding contact. The hold up once again is
the pricing structure for Russian gas exports. Russia wants to set
prices in line with the lucrative deals it has signed with European
nations, while China believes the price should be set much lower.
Disagreements about price have tripped up negotiations on a number of
previous occasions so it is still possible the deal will fall apart
before the end of 2013.

On the arms front, Beijing wants to pay as little as possible for
advanced military technologies and hardware. Russia wants to increase
its arms sales to China, but wants to avoid any deals that could
compromise its own security.

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